"Doubt dissolver"
"This series of dialogues with Baba, published in the magazine
originally in Telugu, unravels the mysteries of spiritual truth and
lovingly removes the mist that hides the vision of aspirants. Perused
with care and faith, these dialogues are bound to clarify, reinforce and
convince. May the perusal lead you nearer and nearer the goal." N. Kasturi,
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Dialogue VI
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Dialogue VIII>> ...to be continued
Dialogue VII
Bhaktha: Greetings,
Swami.
Swami: Oh, you have come, is it?
You didn't come for Dasara!
Bhaktha: The number of Bhakthas then would
be large I thought and so I was afraid I will not be able to speak to
you to my heart's content; hence, I came now, a few days prior to Your
birthday, so that with Your blessings I could realise the ideal which
You teach and have both Bhakthi and Jnana born in my heart, on the
auspicious day of the celebration of Your advent.
Swami: Good! Very good intention, indeed!
But do you mean to say that Bhakthi and Jnana will not be born in you on
days other than my birthday? Is that your idea?
Bhaktha: No, no! That is not so! You come
to this world on an auspicious day at a holy moment which an auspicious
form, isn't it? My idea is that at least on such a day I could establish
in my heart Your holy words and make it pure. The day is holy and the
moment auspicious.
Swami: Fine! What is the Sandeha, the
doubt, you have today?
Bhaktha: I have come today determined to
hear and put into practice Your holy words, Swami.
As the saying goes, Even if you go to Kasi, you have Saneeswara by your
side! So I did not bring the demon of doubt with me today when I came.
Nor did that demon accompany me! It is all due to Your grace.
Swami: Very good! Understand that when
these doubts do not come of themselves, nor are entertained by you, then
indeed the mind is pure. When these two happen, it can be called one-pointedness.
When you have none, why should I remind you of doubts? Then tell me,
what shall I speak to you about?
Bhaktha: Swami, tell me how we should,
generally, conduct ourselves. What are the qualities we should possess?
Which type of subject should we try to understand? To receive the divine
grace and attain Your holy presence, what acts should we perform? Please
tell me the more important of these, the essential things, the chosen
jewels.
Swami: Oh! It seem, Parvathi asked Iswara once, It is difficult to
retain in memory the Sahasranama, the thousand names of God; it takes a
long time to learn them and repeat them; so, please tell me one single
name which is the essence of all the thousand . Similarly, you too
perhaps find it difficult to grasp all that I write and explain and so
you are also asking me to tell you about the most important, is it? But
you see, names have their essence, the subjects you ask about are
different. Though their objective and final result are one, the
practices, the paths of activity, cannot be one. They cannot all be
summarised in one word! Still, I am giving you now some selected jewels,
maxims of conduct, that are very important. Collect and treasure them
well. Experience them well, put them into practice and derive joy
therefrom. Wear these jewels and beautify yourself.
Bhaktha: Exactly what I wanted! How lucky I
am!
Swami: Then listen carefully, I shall tell
you.
-
Prema, love,
should be considered as the very breath of life.
-
The love
that is manifest in all things equally, believe that the same Prema is
Paramathma.
-
The one
Paramathma is in every one, in the form of Prema.
-
More than
all other forms of Prema, man's first effort should be to fix
his love on the Lord.
-
Such love
directed towards God is Bhakthi; that is the fundamental test, the
acquisition of Bhakthi.
-
Those who
seek the bliss of the Atma should not run after the joys of sense
objects.
-
Sathya,
truth, must be treated as life-giving as breathing itself.
-
Just as a
body that has no breath is useless and begins to rot and stink within
a few minutes, similarly, life without truth is useless and becomes
the stinking abode of strife and grief.
-
Believe that
there is nothing greater than truth, nothing more precious, nothing
sweeter and nothing more lasting.
-
Truth is the
all-protecting God. There is no mightier guardian than truth.
-
The Lord who
is Sathyaswarupa grants His Darsan to those of truthful speech and
loving heart.
-
Have
undiminished kindness towards all beings and also the spirit of
self-sacrifice.
-
You must
also possess control of the senses, an unruffled character and
non-attachment.
-
Be always on
the alert against the four sins, which the tongue is prone to commit:
-
Speaking
falsehood
-
Speaking
ill of others
-
Backbiting
and
-
Talking
too much.
It is best
to attempt to control these tendencies.
-
Try to
prevent the five sins that the body commits: Killing, adultery, theft,
drinking intoxicants and the eating of flesh. It is a great help for
the highest life if these also are kept as far away as possible.
-
One must be
always vigilant, without a moment's carelessness, against the eight
sins that the mind perpetrates: Kamam or craving; Krodham or anger;
Lobham or greed; Moham or attachment; impatience; hatred, egoism,
pride. Man's primary duty is to keep all these things at a safe
distance from himself.
-
Man's mind
speeds fast, pursuing wrong actions. Without letting it hurry like
that, remember the name of the Lord at that time or attempt to do some
good deed or other. Those who do thus will certainly become fit for
the Lord's grace.
-
First give
up the evil tendency to feel envious at the prosperity of others and
the desire to harm them. Be happy that others are happy. Sympathise
with those who are in adversity and wish for their prosperity. That is
the means of cultivating love for God.
-
Patience is
all the strength than man needs.
-
Those
anxious to live in joy must always be doing good.
-
It is easy
to conquer anger through love, attachment through reasoning, falsehood
through truth, bad through good and greed through charity.
-
No reply
should be given to the words of the wicked. Be at a great distance
from them; that is for your good. Break off all relations with such
people.
-
Seek the
company of good men, even at the sacrifice of your honour and life.
But be praying to God to bless you with the discrimination needed to
distinguish between the good men and the bad. You must also endeavour,
with the intellect given to you.
-
Those who
conquer states and earn fame in the world are hailed as heroes, no
doubt; but those who have conquered the senses are heroes who must be
acclaimed as the conquerors of the universal.
-
Whatever
acts a good or bad man may do, the fruits thereof follow him and will
never stop pursuing him.
-
Greed yields
only sorrow; contentment is best. There is no happiness greater than
contentment.
-
The
mischief-mongering tendency should be plucked out by the roots and
thrown off. If allowed to exist, it will undermine life itself.
-
Bear with
fortitude both loss and grief; try and search for plans to achieve joy
and gain.
-
When you are
invaded by anger, practise silence or remember the name of the Lord.
Do not remind yourself of things which will inflame the anger more.
That will do incalculable harm.
-
From this
moment, avoid all bad habits. Do not delay or postpone. They do not
contribute the slightest joy.
-
Try as far
as possible within your means to satisfy the needs of the poor, who
are really Daridranarayana. Share with them whatever food you have and
make them happy at least that moment.
-
Whatever you
feel should not be done to you by others, avoid doing such things to
others.
-
For faults
and sins committed in ignorance, repent sincerely; try not to repeat
the faults and sins again; pray to God to bless you with the strength
and the courage needed to stick to the right path.
-
Do not allow
anything to come near you, which will destroy your eagerness and
enthusiasm for God. Want of eagerness will cause the decay of the
strength of man.
-
Yield not to
cowardice; do not give up Ananda.
-
Do not get
welled up when people praise you; do not feel dejected when people
blame you.
-
If among
your friends any one hates another and starts a quarrel, do not
attempt to inflame them more and make them hate each other more; try,
on the other hand, with love and sympathy to restore their former
friendship.
-
Instead of
searching for others' faults, search for your own faults yourself;
uproot them, throw them off. It is enough if you search and discover
one fault of yours; that is better that discovering tens of hundreds
of faults in others.
-
Even if you
cannot or will not do any Punya or good deed, do not conceive or carry
out any Papa, or bad deed.
-
Whatever
people may say about the faults that you know are not in you, do not
feel for it; as for the faults that are in you, try to correct them
yourself, even before others point them out to you. Do not harbour
anger or bitterness against persons who point out your faults; do not
retort, pointing out the faults of those persons themselves, but show
your gratitude to them. Trying to discover their faults is a greater
mistake on you part. It is good for you to know your faults; it is no
good your knowing others' faults.
-
Whenever you
get a little leisure, do not spend it in talking about all and sundry,
but utilise it in meditating on God or in doing service to others.
-
The Lord is
understood only by the Bhaktha; the Bhaktha is understood only by the
Lord. Others cannot understand them. So, do not discuss matters
relating to the Lord with those who have no Bhakthi. On account of
such discussion, your devotion will diminish.
-
If anyone
speaks to you on any subject, having understood it wrongly, do not
think of other wrong notions which will support that stand but grasp
only the good and the sweet, in what he says. True meaning is to be
appreciated as desirable, not wrong meaning or many meanings, which
give no meaning at all and cause only the hampering of Ananda.
-
If you
desire to cultivate one-pointedness, do not, when in a crowd or
bazaar, scatter your vision to the four corners and on everything, but
see only the road in front of you, just enough to avoid accidents to
yourself. One-pointedness will become firmer if one moves about
without taking one's attention off the road, avoiding dangers, and not
casting eyes on others' forms.
-
Give up all
doubts regarding the Guru and God. If your worldly desires do not get
fulfilled, do not blame it on your devotion; there is no relationship
between such desires and devotion to God. These worldly desires have
to be given up some day or other; Bhakthi feelings have to be acquired
some day or other. Be firmly convinced of this.
-
If your
Dhyanam or Japam does not progress properly or if the desires you have
entertained do not come to fruition, do not get dispirited with God.
It will dispirit you even more and you will lose the peace, however
small or big, that you might have earned. During Dhyanam and Japam you
should not be dispirited, desperate or discouraged. When such feelings
come, take it that it is the fault of your Sadhana and endeavour to do
them correctly.
It is only
when in your daily conduct and in all actions you automatically behave
and act in this manner and along these lines that you can attain the
divine principle very easily. Therefore, hold on to these maxims firmly.
Chew and digest these spoken sweets distributed on the birthday festival
of your Swami and be happy! Have you understood?
Bhaktha: Your
words are like Amritha, Swami. Yes! Amritha! In all these ordinary
dealings of life, man does not know the road; he follows the wrong
track; there are no books also to tell him the means of a happy journey;
for all such strugglers like me, what you have said is Prana, the very
breath! We are indeed blessed! Bless me, that these words get imprinted
on my heart and are realised in practice, every day. There is no good in
simply listening or reading them. It is only when Your grace accompanies
them that we get strength. I shall take leave, Swami!
Swami: All right! Go and come for the birthday festival. There are just
seven days more, isn't it? Today is 16th; the birthday is on 23rd; so
there are seven days left. Till that time let this sweetness fill and
overflow your heart!
...to be
continued (SBOI - Group Post)
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